President of the Richmond Football Club, Peggy O’Neal, is one of Australian sport’s most powerful and influential figures. The AFL’s first female president, she’s broken boundaries and shattered glass ceilings every step in her career. Peggy joins Sam Squiers to discuss the growth of the AFLW, creating pathways for other women to take on leadership positions in sport, and how it felt to see the Tigers win a premiership in 2017 after a 37-year drought (and two more premierships since then).
CEO of Netball Victoria and Melbourne Vixens, Rosie King OAM wants to see the Suncorp Super Netball competition expand and provide more opportunities for elite netballers. Rosie has held leadership roles in some of Australia and New Zealand’s largest companies and joins Sam Squiers to discuss getting her first taste of CEO leadership at the Geelong Football Club, changing misconceptions about netball and what needs to happen for the Super Netball competition to grow.
Marquee AFLW player Sabrina Frederick wants her sport to professionalise. Sabrina fell in love with AFL after moving from England to Western Australia as a kid but was shocked to learn she couldn’t play Australia’s national sport at the top level. To continue playing, Sabrina joined the women’s team when she was in her early teens and moved across the country to play for the Brisbane Lions in the first season of the AFLW. Sabrina joins Sam Squiers to discuss finding her love for the game again after two Grand Final losses, finding confidence through sport and how she is using her platform and profile to be a powerful voice for fight for equality.
Jillaroos and Brisbane Broncos captain Ali Brigginshaw wants the women’s game to become professional. Growing up as the only girl in the boys’ team, Ali was told she had no future in the sport so she never imagined she could turn rugby league into a career. Ali joins Sam Squiers to discuss fighting for the growth of the women’s game, why it’s important for young boys to look up to female athletes and how a photo of her kissing her girlfriend on the sidelines ended up in the paper.
100m hurdle champion Liz Clay wants more pathways for young athletes trying to make a career in athletics. Breaking her foot before the 2014 World Junior Championships forced Liz Clay to stay on the sidelines, missing a crucial event for her progression as a junior athlete and foreshadowing her injury-plagued career. Liz joins Sam Squiers to discuss moving from Sydney to the Gold Coast to be coached by hurdles legend Sharon Hannan, the media coverage of athletics compared to team sports and how she’s remained motivated in spite of setbacks.
Queensland Firebird Jemma Mi Mi wants to see Indigenous culture embedded into netball every day of the year, not just during the Indigenous Round. Jemma joins Sam Squiers to talk about her incredible journey to the top of her game and to discuss what she wants to see from Indigenous Round in the future, how she’s found confidence through sport and becoming a role model for the next generation of netballers.
Accidentally qualifying for the national bobsleigh team two years before the 2018 Winter Olympics changed the course of Ash Werner’s sporting career. Ash joins Sam Squiers to discuss leaving behind a successful career in Rugby 7’s to take a chance on bobsleigh, missing out on the 2018 Winter Olympics (despite qualifying) and the concussion that rocked her for over two years.
Growing up in a small town in Trinidad & Tobago, NSW Swifts goal shooter Sam Wallace never imagined she’d be living and playing in Australia. Sam Wallace joins Sam Squiers to discuss playing college basketball in the USA (and why she gave it up to move home to Trinidad), the surprising intensity of Swifts’ training and losing her Dad a few days after winning the 2019 Suncorp Super Netball grand final.
Two years before the Rio Olympics Chloe Dalton Googled “list of Olympic sports” and switched from professional basketball to the Australian Rugby 7’s team to take a chance at winning a gold medal. Chloe joins Sam Squiers to discuss achieving her Olympic gold medal dream, managing anxiety and insomnia alongside professional sport and what she wants to achieve with The Female Athlete Project.
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